Library / English Dictionary

FLATTEN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Lower the pitch of (musical notes)

Synonyms:

drop; flatten

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "flatten" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Domain category:

music (an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Antonym:

sharpen (raise the pitch of (musical notes))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Become flat or flatter

Example:

The landscape flattened

Synonyms:

flatten; flatten out

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "flatten" is one way to...):

change form; change shape; deform (assume a different shape or form)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "flatten"):

splat (flatten on impact)

press (place between two surfaces and apply weight or pressure)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make flat or flatter

Example:

flatten your stomach with these exercises

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "flatten" is one way to...):

form; shape (give shape or form to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "flatten"):

steamroll; steamroller (make level or flat with a steamroller)

splat (split open and flatten for cooking)

roll; roll out (flatten or spread with a roller)

laminate (press or beat (metals) into thin sheets)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Credits

 Context examples: 

One of the flattened membrane-bound regions of the rough endoplasmic reticulum.

(Cisterna of the Rough Endoplasmic Reticulum, NCI Thesaurus)

It can also describe the flattening of soft tissue, such as the breast, that occurs during a mammogram (x-ray of the breast).

(Compression, NCI Dictionary)

When all were safely down they picked up the Scarecrow, whose body was quite flattened out, and patted his straw into shape again.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

This he carefully opened out and flattened on the table.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"Brown!" His voice rang out sharply, and at the sound the dog's ears flattened down as to a caress. "Gee!" The dog made a swinging turn to the right.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

The intrinsic muscles spanning the width of the tongue that depress and flatten the tongue.

(Intrinsic Tongue Muscle Vertical Component, NCI Thesaurus)

His eyelids drooped and went shut, and his whole body seemed to relax and flatten out upon the floor.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

A stack of flattened vesicles located between the nucleus and the secretory pole or surface of a cell.

(Golgi Apparatus, NCI Thesaurus)

So she put all that sort of sentiment, once and for ever, in a grave, and filled it up, and flattened it down.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

A flattened non-neuronal cell surrounding a ganglion cell.

(Perineuronal Satellite Cell, NCI Thesaurus)